[PeeJay]

This blog post by a therapist reminds me of a topic that we've kicked around on these forums.

Link: When You and Your Psychotherapy Client Have Opposing Political Views

Excerpts:
Nancy and I occupy different ends of the political spectrum. It is interesting to me that I can work comfortably with clients who are different from me in very many ways, yet the issue of political ideology is one that I have frequently found internally troublesome. Nancy hates Obama. She listens to conservative talk radio. She makes racist comments and I squirm in my chair, miserably caught between my values as a human and my experience of what is effective in a therapist. When she launches into a political rant, which is not uncommon in spite of my best efforts, I find myself backing up so far I could tip myself right out my window. I feel pissed off, defensive, and, weirdly, a little afraid.

. . .she is both utterly powerless and omnipotent. At a slightly different angle, her internal world . . . is peopled with victims, perpetrators, and passive observers.

. . .I think about all these things, and more, and these thoughts provide me with a little distance, a little room to process my own uncomfortable feelings, a space from which to offer observations, and, on good days, genuine empathy.

. . .Nancy believes I am naïve about the nature of evil.

. . .She hits a nerve with her accusations. It is true that I am uncomfortable with aggression and confrontation.

. . .The problem between us is not new . . . Our worldviews are so wildly different that just expressing our perspectives feels like a fundamental and dangerous challenge to our disparate values and perceptions of reality.

. . .Though it is a trial, I do not defend Obama or taxes or affirmative action or gun control or “socialist” medicine to her. . . .there is no therapeutic gain to be had. Sometimes we are invigorated and challenged by our dialogue.


This seems like a challenging relationship. I don't know that my therapist is this concerned with politics that she would feel this challenged by a client's views.

What do you think?

[grimtopaz]

I could not work with a therapist who had opposing political ideology. While I have not asked my T directly, she has expressed agreement with my political views. As an atheist, immigrant, bisexual woman of color who is very interested in politics as a "hobby" and was involved in the Hillary primary campaign, I would not feel comfortable with a therapist who was very conservative/religious. I also think that what I have to say would make her cringe.
My parents live in the South, and my mental health/development has been deeply affected by people who identified as very religious/social conservative saying horribly prejudiced things to me. This being said, I know not all conservatives are prejudiced, and I know not all liberals are "open minded".
I guess, for me, it wouldn't be the politics per se, but rather her views on issues of gender equality, sexual orientation, immigration, and race...however, these things are closely tied to political orientation.
I have psychologist friends and they do find it very unpleasant when patients say racist/homophobic things (psychologists in general tend to be much more liberal/secular as a whole, than patients).
I actually think this is an important thing to ask during an intake interview/phone screen (at least for me).

We've probably only vaguely mentioned politics once or twice in ten years. Politics is not high on my radar, nor his as far as I know. It's basically a non-issue in my therapy.

[stopdog]

I don't care one way or the other about politics. As long as the therapist is not trying to tell me how to vote or what to believe, I don't care what they believe.

[nottrustin]

I know there are areas T and I agree on...however, I also know there are areas that we disagree on. This usually comes up when discussing work and insurance as well as the medicaid and government assistance. She doesn't like our current Governor as he is making changes she doesn't like..I on the other hand respect some of the changes...I have never told her I disagree with her...she is a provider where as I am not so I figure that plays a huge roll in it...

[Leah123]

Seems to me the therapy is off track: frequently talking about politics on a grand scale rather than the client's personal feelings and issues... how is that helpful? I appreciate how the topic might arise naturally on occasion but if the client actually commonly rants about it... sounds more like an unproductive smokescreen...

unless, perhaps, the client is a politician! Anyone watch House of Cards? He needs a shrink.

[venusss]

Well, the client can be politically active

I mean let's say the client focuses on one issues, goes to protests and marches, wears political buttons on his backpack... so of course this would come in therapy in some way. For example the client complains they feel burned out, that nobody really listens, that it feels in vain, that they often get yelled at and accused of things...

the therapist should handle it in a good way. Which might be hard if it's an issue they disagree with and could create tensions if the therapist expressed it ("you are really wasting your time, you are wrong....").

[Leah123]

Originally Posted by VenusHalley

Well, the client can be politically active

I mean let's say the client focuses on one issues, goes to protests and marches, wears political buttons on his backpack... so of course this would come in therapy in some way. For example the client complains they feel burned out, that nobody really listens, that it feels in vain, that they often get yelled at and accused of things...

the therapist should handle it in a good way. Which might be hard if it's an issue they disagree with and could create tensions if the therapist expressed it ("you are really wasting your time, you are wrong....").

But then, the issues are the client's burnout, exhaustion, perhaps feeling of not being understood- I would want to focus on addressing those rather than political ideologies.

[venusss]

I guess it's hard when you becoming immersed into an issue not to make it part of you and not to talk about it at all the times.

I mean right now I have to really hold back so I don't speak of Maidan, Ukraine, civil war, Putin.... each time I open my mouth. Sadly for many people the "activism" can become too much of their life or even a substitute for something. But hard to discuss this without the actual issue being mentioned.

[nottrustin]

T and I don't have deep discussions about politics but we have touched on it a little..such as when she was first moved to our area (she has lived here 2 years ago) I was talking about how I hate that I have to go so late at night to vote in an area where I am not comfortable. It lead to a brief discussion of who the candidates are as T really didn't know anybody or what they stood for and she moved right at voting time.

The other times it is because we both work in the mental health field and I mentioned how the current economy has effected our patients and therefore the stress of our work. Also how the whole Obama care will effect our clients/patients vs. the hospital and ability to make ends meet. But it is never anything major just something that occasionally morphs from other discussions... Sometimes we can start on a topic and it morphs into something totally different.

[growlithing]

For me, I don't care about their political label. Heck, I don't care about my political label. I prefer to care about each issue separately. While T and I don't have to agree on every issue, some of them are deal breakers for me. I think the biggest one would be sexuality and gender issues (excluding feminism because that has such a broad range of definitions) and separation of church and state/keeping religion COMPLETELY out of therapy. Those issues are complete deal breakers for me in therapy. If T is against the LGBT community or poo poos porn or brings up Jesus at all, I'm 1000% out.

[RTerroni]

I haven't yet discussed Politics with my current Therapist (but am not completely opposed to doing so, we have just had a lot of other things to discuss in session), I saw a Therapist for 4 years who had political views that were completely different from mine but it really didn't effect our Therapeutic relationship.

My former T and I talked about politics rather frequently. We are both very liberal.

I have no idea what my current therapist's position is. I'd probably cry if I found out he was republican. Not sure if I want to ask him now--i'm scared to find out. However, from what I've seen, there are many in the field who are liberal. Come to think of it, I hardly know any "bootstrap" people who work in the mental healthcare field. But people can be fiscally conservative while being socially liberal. It's not as black and white as I just painted it in this post.

[Petra5ed]

The blog post doesn't surprise me, however it sounds like the problem with this therapist/client relationship runs a bit deeper then just a different political ideology. For example the poster says "She makes racist comments and I squirm in my chair" and "her internal world . . . is peopled with victims, perpetrators, and passive observers."

My therapists political ideology mattered a lot to me. Not that I can't tolerate anyone with different beliefs than me, it's more that I can't tolerate anyone with crazy beliefs. For example, I'm liberal but I also know and work with several conservatives that I respect. I know we have differing views, but we respect each other as working thinking reasonable people. On the other hand I would not feel this way if these coworkers were making racist comments, or if they explained their beliefs in paranoid irrational ways!

Same thing with religion for me. I had to know my T's beliefs, and it was totally cool if they were different, but it would not be cool with me for example if my therapist was of the belief I was going to Hell, ha. I think it definitely does take some maturity to realize that with only two parties it cant always be the case one is right and one is evil and the stereotypical party goer is just a meme... for example not all conservatives are racist and greedy, just like not all liberals are lazy and looking for handouts. Most therapists should be that mature I think.